happy thanksgiving!

wow, how time flies... feels like i've not blogged in a while and i have no good excuse except that i've been meaningfully distracted. things have really picked up at work and the stress level with it. the project is going well, and i'm starting to really get entrenched - which is a good thing. but the work is never-ending as always... we just have too much to cover, and not enough resources to do it with. yeah yeah, what else is new, right?

it's thanksgiving over in the US, so happy holidays to all my friends over the border! i envy you guys the time off, feels like forever since we had a break for the Canadian thanksgiving back in October. oooh, Black Friday, i wanna go shopping already!!! drop your comments here and tell me all the good hauls you got... ;-)

this is not meant to be a work blog, but since a lot of you guys reading this know me from a previous work life or two... i'll go into a little detail here. i'm now managing a large software development project for a provincial government health system - replacing a legacy DOS system with a brand spanking new web-based version. the business need for it is critical, as this system supports the day-to-day operation of healthcare facilities across the province. no application, no clients get served.... everyone is watching this go-live with bated breath. to add to the fun, my deployment environment is changing as we speak, and the end-users are finding themselves in a restructured organization so we have to deal with merged groups across physical and logical lines come Jan 1. aaargh! 42 facilities are now becoming managed as 14 big ones, with merged staff, new executive directors and lots of people questioning how and where they're going to work come Day 1 of the new structure. this poses big issues for us too, in terms of who my project goes to for validation of business requirements and planning the deployment. nobody really wants to listen to us right now, because they're all not even sure what their job will be after the next few months.

no pressure, right? hahaha... it's scary, but it's good schtuff. the project challenges here run the gamut - resource issues, dwindling timelines, team dynamics, conflict galore, politically charged agendas, you name it, i can probably point it out. whew! but, with all the madness going on, i've caught glimpses of an eerie serenity about the whole thing. we've managed to get things moving and still accomplish work despite it all. and the team seems to like me. so far. (nyak nyak nyak... wait till i start cracking the whip!) it's a big team and that's part of the challenge, because there's 20 of them and only 1 of me. and we're growing. i'll be hiring or stealing another 4 or 5 developers before the end of the year. and maybe another BA or two.

anyways, that's what i've been dealing with this whole month, just stabilizing the project and ensuring we continue to meet milestones and deal with change as it happens. it's an exhausting job, but someone's gotta do it, and it might as well be me :-)

happy turkey day... i'll tell you guys more next time.